With availability challenges across all Women’s teams this week (school open days, child-care duties, work commitments, visiting friends/boyfriends, swollen ankles and other general malaise blah blah) Henley Women's 4s had a nail biting wait to see who, if any, would be left for them to call up. But Captain Charlotte Moore, who may or may not have been having a weeny stress attack earlier in the week, needn’t have feared. Already having the luxury of breadth and depth within the wider 4s squad to provide a solid foundation to begin with, the icing on the cake was a Coach who has diligently built up her little black book of hockey super-subs over the years, which meant the 4s were able, by the time Saturday morning rocked round, to bolster the existing talent pool with the welcome temporary additions of Flick Cobbold, Hayley Robertson and Georgia Moore, to field an absolute barn-storming team.

Henley took first pushback and used the advantage to surge forward with intent. Whilst Wallingford used their experience and disciplined set up to effectively defend their D, Felicity Cobbold and Kelly Woodfin acted in tandem to sweep up any stray balls that threatened the Henley third and drive them purposefully back up the pitch. For the first 10 minutes Henley continued to press the Wallingford third but were not quite able to get any meaningful shots on goal. However, as the Henley attacking mid-field of Hayley Robertson, Ali Jean-Jean and Georgia Moore settled into a fluid rhythm of 1-2 play up the pitch, Ali was able to drive the ball up the right-hand wing to take a power shot on goal. Wallingford’s goalie, having maintained a clean sheet for all 3 matches played this season so far, deflected the ball, but had failed to note the perfect positioning of Nina Lloyd, who, with lightning speed, caught the ball on the rebound and slotted it into the net to open the scoring for Henley in the 11th minute.

Wallingford, caught off guard by a relatively early goal, found it difficult to find their flow and for the next 20 minutes, Henley dominated in the press. The Wallingford defence showed their calibre by blocking and deflecting in the D to deny Henley further goals but found it hard to capitalise on this to move the ball back down the pitch to their forwards. Eventually Georgia Moore was able to break the deadlock by turning over the ball in the Henley half, moving into space and driving the ball hard down the right wing. Reaching the edge of the D, she found Katherine Alderton positioned perfectly and sent the ball across goal for Katherine to smack into the back of the net. The “Post-Master” was back baby and had furthered Henley’s lead to 2-0 just before the half-time whistle.

If the first half was all about the attacking mid-field and forwards, the second half was really all about Henley’s defensive until, including a goalkeeper fervently protecting her clean sheet. Wallingford had regrouped at the half-time break and decided to try and stretch play by putting the ball into space wherever possible. Winning a short corner, Wallingford failed to convert as Henley goalie Sophia Price blocked the ball and defender Nicky Watts chased it away to neutralise any threat of counterattack. Jenny Ovstedal and Ingrid Johnston stepped to the ball time and time again to prevent any further penetration into the Henley D and Evie Quinn worked relentlessly in the screen, breaking up play and protecting the back line, side-stepping numerous opposition players to elegantly work the ball up the pitch ready for Ali, Hayley and Georgia to drive into the D. Despite winning several short corners through skilful play, Henley were unable to convert and the second half ended with neither side getting the better of either goalkeeper.

At the final whistle, Henley secured a deserved 2–0 win against a side who had not conceded all season before meeting this hard‑working team.
Congratulations to the entire team on a superb performance, especially Katherine and Evie, who were voted players of the match, with honourable mentions for Flick and Nina.